To be very honest, there is something special about the very best players from a very early age. They have special talents physically and mentally that sets them apart from the rest. You can train all you want to, but that doesn't mean you will be the best. It will make you better, but not necessarily make you the best. I just had a 14 year old girl that I work with place 3rd in the qualifying to get into the Family Circle Cup. She plays as athletically as any guy that I know. She plays with swagger and a confidence that few have. The USTA has given her a full scholarship to train at their Florida site and she turned it down after being there a month. She just seems to know what she needs to do to be the best. She also just won her 5th national championship tournament at 14 years old. Does that mean she is going to be the #1 tennis player in the world? She thinks so, but only a lot of hardwork and a tremendous amount of training will tell, and that doesn't mean it will happen. You just have to train your ass off and then play lots of tournaments and see what happens.

Everywhere i look i see the word "talent". Everyone is using it.
But what is talent? Isn't talent something that grows inside you while you are training, etc. I can hardly believe that you are born with a talent, in the very first start we are all the same aren't we?

Everywhere i look i see the word "talent". Everyone is using it.
But what is talent? Isn't talent something that grows inside you while you are training, etc. I can hardly believe that you are born with a talent, in the very first start we are all the same aren't we?

No, we are all created differently. What fun would it be if we were all the same?!? There are some that just have a special ability. It is hard to explain. It tends to be a mental matureness at a young age and the ability to stay cool under fire as well as think one's way through tough times. One maybe extremely fast, quick, strong, etc., but the one thing that I notice in the ones who become champions is a mental toughness that few others have.

I have to agree with Erik on that one. Nobody picks up a racquet and is automatically going to win. Everybody, and I mean everybody, looks clumsy the first time they try to hit a tennis ball. Talent shows itself in subtle ways at first and progressively turns into something bold.

I have to agree with Erik on that one. Nobody picks up a racquet and is automatically going to win. Everybody, and I mean everybody, looks clumsy the first time they try to hit a tennis ball. Talent shows itself in subtle ways at first and progressively turns into something bold.

Now, there is talent and then there is what it takes to be a real champion talent. There are tons of talented players out there, but most of them don't have what it takes to become a top player. Those that really make it really show something early on. The talent is not so subtle when it comes to the ones who win Grand Slams. The talent is there and it must then be harnessed. When you come across one of those supremely talented players, you then realize that there is something special. Like I said, it tends to be mental more than anything. However, some of the most talented players have the least work ethic and they tend to be underachievers. So, it takes not only talent, but a truely strong work ethic. The game has evolved tremendously and there is no room for weaknesses in today's games. Racquet technology has been a big reason for that as one can hit the ball sooooo much harder now. I think the biggest asset nowadays besides talent and work ethic is having the mental fortitude to take a loss and be able to move on and play well the next day.

I have to agree with Erik on that one. Nobody picks up a racquet and is automatically going to win. Everybody, and I mean everybody, looks clumsy the first time they try to hit a tennis ball. Talent shows itself in subtle ways at first and progressively turns into something bold.

You say that, but some people are born with a higher propensity to excel at certain things. Look at Nadal and Federer. I'm a die-hard Rafa fan, but in truth, however much he trains, practices and works out he will never be as natural a ball-striker as Federer. How do you explain this? Talent.

It's been scientifically proven quite recently that many people are born with certain neural facets that allow them to reach an ability that less gifted people (at the same activity) can never attain.

That is why you may pick out a 7 year old and give him a racket and he may struggle to hit the ball until he has been coached for several weeks. And then you might come across another 7 year old who, within minutes of picking up a racket, can play a five or ten shot rally. That is the noticeable discrepancy between a beginner who is endowed with supreme talent and one who is not. Talent can be spotted a mile off.

It is also very true that talented people tend to be lazier. When I was about 7 or 8, whenever I tried a sport for the first time, people would say I was extremely talented. Naturally, I carried on trying new sports, finding I was good at them and competing to quite a high level. Because I played so many, my performance relied on my talent rather than the hours of practice I should have put in. I'm 17 now, and because I never practised enough and focused on one thing, although I'll always be good, I'll never be really good because there were people less talented who worked harder, and have now overtaken me. Success is 10% talent and 90% hard work.

That's why there are so few phenomenal, talented people that make it in life: firstly, many people don't discover their talent in a particular area. Secondly, the people who do find their talent aren't prepared to work hard enough to make best use of it.

Last edited by AlexLogan; 03-11-2010 at 06:10 PM.

"The depressing thing about tennis is that no matter how good I get, Iíll never be as good as a wall."

"Whoever said, ĎItís not whether you win or lose that counts,í probably lost."

using your example of the 7 y.o. boys - to me, talent is not displayed in the first week of tennis nor the first year. the boy who couldn't hit the ball could possibly be more talented at tennis than the one who sustained 'long' rallies. it takes minimally a decade for talent to really come alive. only then would i be able to say "wow this person is talented". take for instance Federer. At the age 20, he was ranked about 50th in the world. while this is an incredible rank, to think of Federer ranked that low is even more incredible. His talent was always there, but he had to still work. He had not proven that his talent was top notch, and this is because at the time it simply was not. Lleyton Hewitt had more talent than Roger Federer in the year 2001. did Hewitt just lose his talent after just a few years? doubtful - talent is a living evolving gift.. a use or lose it tool.

In a way, you are right. You have to harness the talent, but when it is true talent, it is always there lurking under the surface. The 14 year old Haley Carter that I have been harping on won her first national championship on a couple of years after beginning to play tennis. Al Parker did the same thing. The thing about Federer is that while he is talented, he also works hard. That is what made Steffi Graf so good. Andre Agassi was more talented than any of them and had no work ethic until the mid-nineties. Had he actually trained hard from 1988 to 1994, he would have another 7 or 8 Grand Slams to his name. He literally would practice 20 minutes a day at times or not at all until a couple of days before a Grand Slam and then he would hit for a couple of hours and still make it to the finals of slams. It is crazy how talented that guy actually was. Have you ever seen him run at a golf ball and drive it 350 yard straight down the fairway? He used to do that like it was nothing. He wasted alot of talent for 6 years. One who does not have that natural ability (talent) can practice 24/7 and I will say with one hundred percent certainty that they will not make it to the top. I actually embrace those special people that have that talent. I think it is great that they have been given such a gift.

Originally Posted by Lawn Tennis

using your example of the 7 y.o. boys - to me, talent is not displayed in the first week of tennis nor the first year. the boy who couldn't hit the ball could possibly be more talented at tennis than the one who sustained 'long' rallies. it takes minimally a decade for talent to really come alive. only then would i be able to say "wow this person is talented". take for instance Federer. At the age 20, he was ranked about 50th in the world. while this is an incredible rank, to think of Federer ranked that low is even more incredible. His talent was always there, but he had to still work. He had not proven that his talent was top notch, and this is because at the time it simply was not. Lleyton Hewitt had more talent than Roger Federer in the year 2001. did Hewitt just lose his talent after just a few years? doubtful - talent is a living evolving gift.. a use or lose it tool.